1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for treating hepatitis C, which is effective even in the case of severe chronic hepatitis C.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hepatitis C is infectious disease caused by the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). The proliferation of HCV in liver is the cause of the onset of this disease, and after the onset HCV spread to the blood.
An interferon therapy is believed to be the only one practically effective method for treating hepatitis C, the interferon is administered alone or with other pharmaceuticals.
A treatment with an interferon involves, depending on the severity of a particular case, an interferon injection once a day for 4 weeks followed by once per two days for 22 weeks while observing any change in the condition. In the case where no improvement is observed even after such an interferon therapy being continued over a half year (one therapeutic term is a half year), the interferon therapy may be continued similarly further for a half year.
While it is highly desired to accomplish a complete recovery from hepatitis C, especially from chronic hepatitis C, which may lead to hepatic cirrhosis or cancer when being allowed to be left as it is, a severe case which missed the chance of the complete recovery and allowed the disease to be a chronic or grave one, such as a case classified as xe2x80x9clbxe2x80x9d, can not expected to be treated successfully with any interferon therapy. As one of the indices of hepatitis C, the blood hepatitis C virus-derived RNA level (hereinafter sometimes referred to as HCV RNA) is known, and a case whose HCV RNA level before an interferon therapy is about 100 k copies can be expected to be treated successfully with the interferon, but a case whose HCV RNA level is 200 to 300 k copies or more is believed to exhibit a poor therapeutic effect.
On the other hand, an interferon therapy may have side effects such as the onset of a thyroidal disease or fever, retinopathy, depression and the like, and a repetitive interferon therapy may be an extreme burden not only economically but also physically and mentally due to these side effects especially in a case where no therapeutic effect is expected.
The invention is a method for treating hepatitis C, and intended to ameliorate the symptoms of hepatitis C or to accomplish a recovery therefrom by means of warming a liver region of a human.